A villain has been jailed after he posed for a Facebook snap in a stolen car.

Dean Fallows’ bid to show off to pals online linked him to a ring of car thieves who stole high-powered motors in burglaries around south Manchester and Tameside.

Fallows, 20, claimed to have spent only seconds behind the wheel of the Audi A3, but it was enough to make him guilty of handing stolen goods.

He was jailed for 15-months after admitting the charge at Manchester Crown Court.

The Audi A3 was being kept at a lock-up in Salford, along with a Seat Leon, when Fallows got into it.

Both cars had been stolen by his pals Damon Keegan, 20, and Aaron Wilhelm, 18. They were jailed last month.

Fallows told the court he had gone to the lock-up after agreeing to give another friend, Lucas Hunter, a lift there. He had realised they were ‘dodgy’, but had asked to have his picture taken at the scene anyway.

He told the court: “I have an interest in cars and I wanted them for a Facebook picture. They were sporty cars.”

Fallows was caught after the victim of a burglary in Burnage was told that Keegan, Wilhelm and Hunter were responsible and was directed to their Facebook pages. He then told police, who found a number of images of the gang posing with stolen vehicles looking blankly at the camera.

Michael Lavery, defending Fallows – who left school with ten GCSEs – was from a decent background.

He said: “It’s an entirely plausible if somewhat immature explanation – a boy, posing for photographs in a car which he could not afford, to impress people who would otherwise be unimpressed by his lifestyle.”

But Judge Steiger said he did not believe Fallows, who also admitted agreeing to sell a Swarovski jewellery Keegan and Wilhelm had stolen in a raid.

Fallows, formerly of Gorton, was sentenced alongside Hunter, 19, who admitted a catalogue of offences, including handling stolen vehicles, burglaries, and dangerous driver.

Hunter, of Odette Street, Gorton, was jailed for 45 months in a young offenders’ institution.